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#764 09/15/04 05:38 PM
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I am purchasing some land in Oklahoma and will be building some new ponds. A friend of mine has a nice piece of land and has built several ponds over the last 3-4 years. Oklahoma has had somewhat of a drought and his new ponds have not filled very well.

Is it common for people to fill a pond by drilling a well. I know some wells are used to maintain water levels in the summer months but is it crazy to think you can drill a well and fill your ponds?

#765 09/15/04 07:17 PM
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if you have the flow to achive your needs , go for it. electric might hurt some. \:\)


i only wanted to have some fun
#766 09/15/04 10:16 PM
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Hello,

As an Oklahoma resident who has recently built a pond I can tell you that the hot dry summer wind will rob ponds of significant amounts of water. To help minimize the impact of the hot dry summers make sure your pond is properly laid out and constructed. Contact your local soil conservation agent for assistance and find a contractor that will build the pond using correct design and construction methods. My personal advice is if they don't use a "sheep's foot" roller to compact your pond don't use them. Anyone can dig a hole for you and it might work fine, but if it doesn't then be prepared to spend big $$$ to get it fixed. I know this from experience. I have a leaky pond due to improper construction and it is going to cost as much or more to fix it as it did to build! Do your homework and don't just blindly trust your contractor to do the job correctly. Once your pond is up and running be sure to contact the OK. Dept. Of Wildlife for free fish.

Best wishes,
Patrick

#767 09/15/04 10:19 PM
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Hello Again,

By the way, I was born and raised in Prairie City ILL.

Take care,
Patrick

#768 10/11/04 08:58 PM
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Okie, yes, that is crazy. you don't mention the pond size, but here is my viewpoint. Without getting into too much detail, you do have the ability to counteract some of the evaporation during the summer months with well water (which contains no oxygen), but there's no way you'll fill a pond unless you have a big well and a lot of $$$. It takes 325,000+ gallons to fill an acre one foot deep, a well that runs 24/7 and produces 25 gallons per minute will get you 3 feet deep in a month. Be patient, let Mother Nature bring the water, then try to stabilize the level during summer if possible. (i.e. 50 acres of watershed on a 3 inch rain should bring close to 900,000 gallons, or 3 feet !

#769 10/12/04 05:07 PM
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THANKS FOR THE RESPONSES. I WILL WAIT ON GOOD OL MOTHER NATURE........

#770 10/12/04 08:41 PM
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Aquaculturists fill ponds with wells all the time. In fact wells are prefered over watershed water as it has less risk for contamination and other unwanted items including silt.

I have a 4 inch well at 88 feet with a 45 gpm pump on it that I use 24/7 in summer to keep my trout pond cool and flushed. Right now I am using it to fill two new ponds. Ponds are quite small at about 100,000 gallons, 85 by 45 feet and 7 to 8 feet deep (for intensive aquaculture purposes) and it takes about two days to fill them with this pump. I also aerate my well water by dropping it through five gallons buckets filled with plastic media before channeling it via knife gate valves to various ponds.

Cost to run the well on 220 power 24/7 per month is about $100.00. I guess it depends on what you consider expensive.

One more thing -- make sure you have an aquifer that can handle the pumping. Some can't. My aquifer is about 40 feet thick and goes on for miles. I may even have another aquifer under this one.


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






#771 10/13/04 03:45 PM
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I have had three hurricans come through and only half way full now....need another 6 inches

#772 10/13/04 06:30 PM
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Cecil has a BIG well and lots of $$$. \:\)

#773 10/13/04 10:24 PM
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 Quote:
Originally posted by Eastland:
Cecil has a BIG well and lots of $$$. \:\)
No Cecil does not. He has just figured out a way to pay for the fish he harvests -- primarily by hook and line -- by selling them.I only have to sell about 19 fish a year to pay for the electricity to pump the well (a average profit of $30.00 per fish.)

I have some brook trout now, that if I can get them over 5 lbs. I will be able to sell the ones that are perfect specimens for $100.00 a piece. After capture and overdosing the fish on an anesthetic in a cooler to prevent thrashing, fish are measured, catologed, shrink wrapped, and labeled; and are shipped all over the country.

Big well? Well is only a 4 inch (standard diameter for household wells around here) and the the price for the well and pump was around $2000.00. I know people that spend more on fishing boats than I did on the well and my biggest pond.


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






#774 10/14/04 06:49 AM
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Cecil, I don't understand what you mean when you say you aerate the water by running it through a 5 gallon bucket with plastic. Could you describe this more? After this process, what sort of DO do you have? Is this your primary form of aeration or is a diffuser at the bottom of your lake the primary form of aeration?

What water quality tests do you run and how often do you perform these tests? Under your conditions, do you have a recommendation of a particular test kit to buy? This subject of using well water completely hasn't been discussed that much here and any other information would be greatly appreciated.


Norm Kopecky
#775 10/14/04 06:57 AM
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Guess I must be big time, just took the "6 INCH WELL" down to 80 ft! Ran me 900.00 to do it. But the enjoyment from the pond is alot better than buying a seat in a bar somewhere. Think we are gonna have a new member and subscriber. Have someone that bought the 10 acres beside me and is going to put in a pond. Loaned him 3 years of back issues to read and all he could say is "Wow"

#776 10/14/04 09:07 PM
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 Quote:
Originally posted by Norm Kopecky:
Cecil, I don't understand what you mean when you say you aerate the water by running it through a 5 gallon bucket with plastic. Could you describe this more? After this process, what sort of DO do you have? Is this your primary form of aeration or is a diffuser at the bottom of your lake the primary form of aeration?

What water quality tests do you run and how often do you perform these tests? Under your conditions, do you have a recommendation of a particular test kit to buy? This subject of using well water completely hasn't been discussed that much here and any other information would be greatly appreciated.
Norm,

As you may, or may not know, well water is typically devoid of oxygen and also has excess nitrogen gas and sometimes excess carbon dioxide.

My subermisble well pump pumps water up to a vertical piece of 1 1/2 inch PVC above ground and then horizontally via an elbow to the top of several five gallon buckets hung in a series below a post. This is several feet off the ground. At the end of this piece of horizontal PVC is another elbow that points down which drops the water via gravity through these buckets. The first bucket has a plastic plate with lots of holes to spread out the flow evenly as it falls. The buckets are filled with a plactic material (biofilter media) that has a high surface area. As the water drops through them via gravity the water is broken up and oxygen is added and nitrogen gas released.

Each buck has most of the bottom cut out and in the bottom is plastic screening to hold in the media. After dropping out of the last bucket the water falls into a tank which now consists of a pit that is lined with an EPDM liner. I have two exit pipes -- one goes to my present trout pond and the other exit pipe forks off to which ever pond I want water to run into dependin on which knife gate valve I open and close.

With this simple contraption I get close to 90 some percent oxygen saturation which provides ample oxygen to the water. If I remember right for my well water temp of 51.6 thats over 10.0 ppm. I also have a upturned elbow at the end of my underground pipes at each pond to cause the water to flow up and spill over which aerates even more. I don't really use the bottom diffusers in my ponds to aerate. I use them more to prevent stratification to prevent an anoxic layer on the bottom and to provide adequate mixing to promote decomposition and the health of the ponds.

Norm, I don't do much chemical testing anymore. I have an expensive ammonia meter and after testing numerous times under many different conditions have yet to have high ammonia levels. Likewise I have an expensive D.O. meter and have never had any problems as long as I don't overcrowd, keep aquatic vegetation and algae blooms in balance, and use my diffuser to prevent stratification and subsequent lethal turnover. As far as PH my alkalinity is so high PH doesn't vary at all even diurnally.

Basically what I am using to aerate my well water is know as a "packed column." I originally used a solid piece of 10 inch PVC packed with the media but with the suggestion of a Canadian Aquaculture educator from one of the websites I frequent, he suggested the five gallon buckets. I get more saturation with the buckets with an open air space between them vs. the solid PVC column.

Here is a link that may help you understand the concept:

http://srac.tamu.edu/191fs.pdf


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






#777 10/15/04 10:16 AM
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Thanks Cecil. How many 5 gallon buckets do you use? This article really does help understand the concept.


Norm Kopecky
#778 10/15/04 12:35 PM
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Norm,

I have four in a series. One more thing; Make sure your top bucket is secured well. Along with the handle I use plastic coated clothes line to reinforce it, as this year I had the handle pull out and partially collapse the column. In my case, iron builds up over time in the plastic media and weighs the buckets down. In late fall I remove the column and remove the iron from the media with muratic acid. The I store the column for the winter.


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






#779 10/15/04 06:45 PM
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Cecil, after a hard day of work on Friday, I came here to relax and educate myself again...but, you make my head hurt! Any man that sells a fish for $100 is a genius, I'm just trying to follow along, and adjust your ideas to my needs. It makes a TON of sense to aerate the water column to only stir the mix, and to use well water for oxygen saturation. My question is : have you seen this type of system in a more natural looking environment ? I want to use the basic principals here, but don't really want 5 gallon buckets hanging near the bank of my pond. Could this system be set in a series of buckets cascading down like stairs, or is it the continuious straight drop that provides most of the oxygen ?

#780 10/19/04 09:33 PM
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Eastland, my well is 653 ft. deep - 590ft. at first but was drawing some air so the driller lowered the pump 63 more ft. I ran a 4 inch pvc. pipe from the 220 gal. holding tank to one side and front of the fishing dock turned it up 45 degrees added a cut off valve and attached a brass fire nozzel , when i open the valve the water shoots high into the air and splashes into the pond. this looks great and also solves the aireation problem. i also run my sprinkler system, and out side water faucits, thats why i added the holding tank. Harvey

#781 10/24/04 08:40 PM
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Cecil,
Very interesting! Is there anyway you could post some pictures of your set up sometime?
Thanks!


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